Tribulation
by Vampiric Charms
Summary: Tenzin seeks out Lin under the assumption she is in need of guidance after her bending is restored – when it turns out he needs her to guide him just as badly, perhaps even more. Lin/Tenzin oneshot, complete.


**Set after the end of Season 1, not long after the final episode while everyone is still at the South Pole. Rated for the implied potential to cheat on one's spouse. Also posted over on my AO3 account.**

**Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Tribulation<strong>

He found her, she was sure, by following the sounds of the rocks she was throwing against the canyon wall. She certainly wasn't being quiet about it.

There was a small part of her that was still frightened something of her former mastery may yet be missing, and she was proving to herself, over and over, that she was fine – just _fine_ – and nothing was wrong anymore. There was very little metal to bend here that wasn't already on her body, but the frozen earth she found under the snow was working excellently.

Lin pulled another boulder from the ground as Tenzin slowly approached from the back of the canyon, tossing it high in the air above her head before flicking her wrist to send it left. Another twist of her fingers and the rock split into two even pieces, which she sent outward in opposite directions. She closed her right fist tightly, causing the piece on that side to break into hundreds of pebbles, and then into a fine sand that dusted across the snow. The other, she threw into the wall behind her to join at least thirty others already there, wedged into the ice.

She moved into another form, sliding her feet across the ground to push up slush around them. Rather than pull on the earth, though, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes, able to locate every bit of dirt around her, ice-covered though it may have been. She could still feel that hollow place in her heart, but she was starting to regain a bit more of her old confidence.

Tenzin had stopped several yards behind her, watching in silence.

"I can feel you back there, you know," Lin pointed out softly, knowing the wind would take her words to him without any more effort on her part.

"I didn't want to intrude."

She just snorted though her nose, not turning around to look at him. "Right."

His steps were loud now as he crunched through the snow, over pebbles and frozen sand to reach her side. She considered using a tug on the earth to shove him into a pile of robes and fur, just because she _could_, but she restrained herself. She wasn't a child – not that she played tricks like that then, either.

"How're you feeling?" Tenzin asked when he was closer.

Lin shrugged, turning slightly to keep her back to him. "Fine," she replied shortly, lifting an arm to pull a small rock up into the palm of her gloved hand. Even through the leather, she could feel the pulsing of the stone as it spoke to her in a comforting rhythm.

"You've been out here for a few hours," he pointed out when she didn't continue speaking. "Looks like you've been practicing hard."

"Obviously."

Once again, she let the conversation he was trying to build drop off quite completely. Tenzin sighed. "Pema wanted me to let you know dinner was nearly ready. If you're hungry."

"Lovely."

"Come on, Lin," he said quietly, realizing then than she wasn't actually letting him see her when she sidestepped his gaze as he took a step forward. "Let's go warm up."

"I'm fine out here, thanks."

To prove her point, she walked away and shoved outward with her hands, the ground following her motion outward in a slow jump. "I'll be back later," she added, knowing he was about to argue with her and wanting to stop that before it started.

"Lin." She continued to ignore him, much to his irritation. Waiting until she was distracted bending something else, he reached out and took her arm, tugging her gently around. Her eyes flashed angrily and she immediately jerked her arm from his grasp, but that wasn't what he was paying attention to when he caught a brief glimpse of her face. She'd been crying.

"Come back!" There was a faint tinge of panic to his voice – if she had been crying, something must be wrong – as reached for her again. She was already stalking away irately, and he took a few steps to catch up. "Lin, wait! What's wrong? Is something the matter with your bending? Are you not feeling well?"

"Go away," she muttered, blocking his hand as it came near her. "I told you, Tenzin, I'm fine."

He dropped his arm despite the need to touch her still burning in his fingers, though at least she had stopped moving and he wasn't quite as worried that she would continue running. "You're not fine," he whispered, coming close enough for her to hear. She frowned when he added, "Everyone is probably fooled by that mask you wear, but I'm not. What's the matter?"

Lin took in a deep breath, letting it escape slowly as she turned her gaze up to the darkening sky. The full moon was bright on the horizon, a smattering of stars just starting to show themselves through the brilliant purples and deep pinks of sunset. It was a sight she never really realized she missed seeing in the city, this vast open sky unbroken by buildings or airships or any other manmade object, until she returned to the South Pole. "It's not so much something I can put into words," she finally said, finding a particular star and leaving her eyes there. "It's just a sense of emptiness that has yet to be refilled, I suppose. I know it will be eventually, with my bending restored. I'm just having a bit difficultly finding the path again. That's all."

The warmth of Tenzin's hand against her cheek startled her, and her head jerked forward to find him watching her with a distraught expression pulling his eyebrows together. He brushed his thumb across her chilled skin, catching the last tear before it could fall very far. His own eyes were beginning to water.

"Tenzin -"

"I am so sorry," he murmured, stepping closer and pressing his free hand to her other cheek to cup her face. It was the first time he had touched her in more than passing contact in over a decade, and his flesh tingled where it met hers even in this fairly innocent way. Ever so slightly, just enough for them both to notice, she leaned into his touch, her eyes closing tightly. "I am so, so sorry to have ever put you in that position."

She understood he was referring to that moment days ago, when she vowed to protect his family. The moment that had ultimately led to her capture by Amon, and then to this moment now. But the undercurrent running through his words made her heart pound, and through their contact, she could feel his pounding just as fast. She knew she should step back, but the feeling of his warm hands against her again was an anchor in the sea she had been wading through since this whole ordeal began. She couldn't move, just as she knew he couldn't, either.

Tenzin rocked forward and pressed his forehead against hers, watching her as his thumb continued to move across her cheek, tracing the tips of her raised scars. "Lin," he breathed, and it sounded as though he simply needed to say her name rather than gain her attention. She lifted her gloved hand and covered one of his, hearing a pain that melted with hers. "Oh, Lin."

"Seems like you have something on your mind, too," she quipped gently, slowly bringing her gaze to meet his. His face was so close their noses nearly touched, though she didn't back away.

He tried to take a breath, but it caught in his throat to turn into a small sob that he didn't attempt to hide. "I never imagined how frightened I would be."

"I don't understand." Lin wrapped her other hand around the back of his neck, over the furs of his outer robes. He had spoken in the past tense, but his fear was still so real; she could feel it through the pulsing of his heart. "Your family is perfectly safe now, why are you still so afraid?"

Tenzin frowned sadly, averting his eyes so he wouldn't have to look into hers for another second, finding he was quickly becoming overwhelmed. The fingers of one hand slid back into her hair, just below her ear, to pull her the faintest bit closer. "I thought you were dead, Lin," he muttered brokenly, the words tumbling out almost before he could think them through. "When you left us, I was so certain they had killed you. And even when I found you, I still – you were so cold, and a part of myself died so completely in that moment, believing you were truly gone. I never thought I would feel joy again, until you opened your eyes. But even then – I shouldn't feel this – this strongly. I didn't care that your bending was gone, Lin, I was just so relieved, so happy you were _alive_."

She let the tears roll down his face, at a loss of what to say next. She had accepted very quickly, as she made that leap, that she was facing death. She had accepted it and flown into the situation with her head held high. Perhaps not with open arms, but certainly with no regrets. She had also accepted the loss of her bending with as much grace as she could, given the circumstances with the Avatar's similar loss and the focus solely on Korra rather than herself, though she could not lie – while she would have made her life work regardless, she would always be thankful her bending was restored. What she had not considered, even once, was Tenzin.

He spoke again, and she blinked, her attention fully on him. "I never thought I would lose you so entirely."

"I'm still here," she whispered, not sure what words would comfort him. Those seemed to help, and he relaxed softly against her. "I'm right here, Tenzin."

"Yes," he agreed quickly, a small smile tugging his lips back as his fingers twisted in her hair. "You are. You always are. I would never have recovered, I'm sure of it, if they had taken you from me. Lin, I think – I _know_ -"

"Hush, Tenzin," she interrupted gently, slipping her hand off of his from where it still rested firmly against her cheek to cover his lips with two fingers. She'd felt the familiar jolt in his heart, and knew the words needed to be cut off before they were given life. "You don't love me any more. No arguing. Everything is as it should be."

They both knew she was lying.

Another tear met the leather of her gloves where they touched his skin, and she blinked again to hide her own. "I'm leaving after dinner, on the freighter heading back to Republic City. Saikhan sent a message this morning asking me to take my job back. I suppose he wasn't cut out for being Chief of Police after all, following my dazzling legacy."

Her attempt at a joke fell flat when Tenzin gripped her fingers, bringing her palm forward to kiss it delicately. "Please don't go, Lin." The words were slightly mumbled with his mouth still pressed against her hand, and he inhaled deeply to pull the scent of her, leaking from the sleeve open at her wrist, into his lungs in a desperate attempt to keep it – and her – there. "Please. Stay, just for a few more days."

"I can't." She sniffed softly and, likely against her better judgment, turned her hand to twine their fingers together, bringing them to her chest. The anchor she had felt so strongly before was still there, a feeling she desperately did not want to lose now that she had found it. "You know as well as I do that I don't fit here now. My home is the city, and I'll be there when you return."

Tenzin sighed, bereft, the breath floating across her face and making her muscles quiver at the familiar sensation. "I don't want you to leave," he murmured, tilting his head just enough to ensure his lips brushed hers when he spoke. "Please, Lin. All I can think about when you're away from me is -"

"I'm here, right here." She grinned, a hint of sorrow to it as she repeated her words and felt him so close. "Stop worrying, airhead. I'm still very much alive." She raised her eyes to his again, leaning back a bit and tracing his jaw with a finger. "Who ever would have thought you were the one in so much need of guidance? You, Mister Always-In-Control, who came out here with the intention of guiding me?"

They both chuckled, and she wrapped her arms around him tightly when he fell forward to hide his face against her neck. "I have no intention of leaving you," she whispered in his ear. "The last few days aside. You're not getting rid of me that easily."

"Good."

"I really am going back to Republic City tonight, though."

Tenzin was quiet for a moment, just existing in her embrace and allowing the devastating emotions resulting from the tribulations they had endured together drain away as she held him, slowly giving way to peace for them both. "I know," he finally replied, pausing there to press a tender kiss to the skin under his lips.

"Should we head back?" Lin asked into the quiet surrounding them as night fell more solidly, casting the snow in silvery shadows. Neither made any move to leave the canyon, nor one another's arms. "I'm assuming your family will notice your absence from dinner."

"Not yet. Let's wait just a little while longer."


End file.
